eLearning Service

The news in many tech-related blogs the last few days, including Ars Technica, has been about search engine Ask.com which launched a redesigned user interface that includes an assortment of new features and integrates image, video, and music content into basic search results.  The new interface is called Ask 3D, a reference to its new three-column structure (see results image below).

Most compare the redesign to Google’s new Universal Search system, which was announced recently.  But unlike Universal Search’s subtle streamlining of additional content into search results, the new Ask interface gives prominence to media content and offers additional features that provide a completely new search experience.

The Ask.com search result interface is organized into three separate columns. On the left are lists of relevant keywords and similar searches related to the current search, the middle column lists conventional search results, and the column on the right displays images, videos, encyclopedia reference, and other kinds of search results depending on the nature of the query.

“Ask’s new interface is a solid improvement, and compelling new features like search result thumbnail previews are sure to please users,” Ryan Paul says, altough the media search sometimes produces non-relevant results.

At another blog, Read/WriteWeb concludes, “While Ask.com is using some artistic license to describe the changes, it actually does seem to offer more utility than Google Universal Search. At its heart Ask3D is, like Google’s upgrade, an integrated set of search results on one page. This is something that Ask.com has always tried to do – present search results that give a variety of content on one page, so users don’t need to go hunting around for it… The amount of useful information you get on page one of an Ask3D search results page, and how it’s presented, is arguably better than what you’ll get on Google (forgetting for a moment the quality of the underlying algorithm, which I didn’t test).”